My selection for the external project demanded quite a large body of work compared to some of the other possibilities. As such, after I had settled on an idea I made a series of roughs very quickly before moving on and allocating the remainder of my time to the completion of the 32 page book the competition demanded.
The inspiration for my book came primarily from the works of two of my favourite artists. Both artists capture a wonderful sense of adventure in their work and seem to dwell on ideas of escapism, dreams and imagination. These elements were also at the forefront of one of my (and many other people’s) own favourite children’s books, Maurice Sendak’s ‘Where the Wild Things Are’.
From Zac Gorman’s work, I appreciated the plaintive sentimentality and sense of nostalgia that ultimately defines his quiet but emotionally resonant works for me. Similarly, I admire in Eiichiro Oda’s series ‘One Piece’ his ability to communicate significant events through extremely compact, single panel scenes, each full of energy.
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| Maurice Sendak 'Where the Wild Things Are' |
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| Eiichiro Oda 'One Piece' |
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| Zac Gorman |
As such, my children’s book ultimately followed an adventurous child, finding wonderment and danger within their everyday surroundings. This allowed me to keep things over the fairly significant length of the book (a longer if not denser narrative than I have created certainly) while embodying the same themes and feelings as some of my favourite art, if nowhere near as successfully or poignantly.
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